Tuesday, July 28, 2009

This is my first time making swiss roll.

The cake cracked badly on the outside when I rolled it, and it was a huge roll. My cake was about 1 inch in height when baked, a bit tall. Then I tucked the cake real tight in cling wrap. And it came down to a regular swiss roll size, and voila, the cracks seemed to have disappeared!!!! I made 2 rolls, and my oven can only take in 1 baking pan at a time, so I had to make the batter twice and bake twice. Luckily it only takes 15 mins to bake.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Mike’s favourite kuih!!!

The best seri muka is made by the Malays. It feels like eating kaya, just that it’s in a more solid form. I have a friend, Siti Zubaidah who told me her mom makes some kick ass good seri muka. And there's no exact recipe. Just agak-agak(estimate). And she told me her mom said, put in some flour, how much... "tak taulah nak cakap, tapi sikit saja." (Dunno how to say, but it's just a little bit). There u see... traditional household cooking.............

As for the Chinese kuih vendors...Theyput in way too much flour or starch, making the custard layer too uncustardy. I got one kuih recipe book written by Malaysian Chinese writers, and it confirms my point. BTW, not refering to nyonyas.... Nyonyas make kuihs like the Malays.

1. Soak rice for at least 2 hours. Drain. Put rice into a baking pan suitable for steaming. Mix it with coconut milk and salt. Add in water. Make sure the water is abt 3mm above the rice. If added in the stated amount and it seems slightly more, it’s ok. But not higher than 1cm definitely! If water level’s too low, add more water. Cos it depends on how well u drain the rice.2. Steam rice on high heat for 20-30 minutes until rice turns translucent. Remove from heat and immediately fluff rice with a fork or chopstick. Place rice into a 8 inch round pan or 7 inch square pan. Level and press rice to compact it. U may either use a flat bottomed glass or a layer cake press. If ur hands are heat resistant, u may use it too!! Haha! But do it over a aluminium sheet or baking paper. Do this while the rice is still hot. Return compacted rice in pan to steamer and steam until custard is ready.3. Mix all the ingredients in (B) and cook in a heavy saucepan on low heat, stirring slowly all the time to ensure it doesn’t burn until it thickens slightly. Remove from heat.4. Pour (3) over compacted rice and steam on medium low heat for 25 minutes. Do not use high heat as it will cause the kuih surface to be uneven… suitable for surfing.5. Cool kuih thoroughly before cutting into pieces.

This is how I agak-agak(estimate) if I'm lazy. It's agak-agak, but accurate. You can increase the amounts by ratio if u want to make more. This ratio of ingredients makes a nicely layered kuih, neither being too much. Just nice. I did this method too, and it's yummy. Works as well.

The above precisely measured recipe is almost 50% more of the agak-agak formula. Up to u to use it by cups or the scale.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Neighbour Maria ordered a sponge cake filled with fresh cream.

So I made a coffee sponge for her. I was so happy when the cake came out good and nice. I carefully sliced it into 3 and kept it covered because it was time to fetch Lydia from her nanny.When she came back, she didn't realise there was this cake on the table, covered. I guess it was safe from her. But not long after that, w/o me realising it, she took one slice of the layers and chomped on it!!!

Blood rushed up to my head!!!I was furious! But kept calm. So furious that tears were bursting out from my eyes, but was trying very hard to hold back. So intense were the emotions that my head felt dizzy... Mike saw it and told me to make another layer while he looks after the kids. I sat there not knowing what to do as there were no more coffee paste, and the last bit I was saving it for the frosting. So, I made a chocolate layer in the end.

So, from a 3 layered coffee sponge, it became Coffee-Choc-Coffee....Mocha!

It was my fault, anyway, should've put it even higher, totally out of her reach. Anything covered on the table can be uncovered by her.

Lydia, Lydia, how I wish sometimes u are not such a big foodie!! Haha!!

Friday, July 17, 2009

One of the all time favourite savoury kuih of Malaysians, a definate local kuih, using all local ingredients... Err... mind u, the currypuff /karipap is not 100% local, it uses wheat flour...wheat...wheat, u see.....

I did this my way!!!

The assembly...I was lazy to flatten each piece of rice like making sushi roll, so I did it this way.

1. Place dried chillies, dried shrimp, shallots, turmeric and lemon grass into a food processor and puree.2. Heat wok and put in oil. Fry (1) on medium heat until fragrant and dry.3. Put in grated coconut, and mix well. Continue to fry until coconut is fragrant. Put in seasonings and water. Cook until mixture is slightly moist, as in packable when pressure is laid, but not so moist that u see juices seeping out.4. Remove from heat and let it cool.This step can be done in advanced for many days, kept frozen until needed. This amount is for double the amount of rice stated below, so u can freeze this in separated into 2 portions.

Rice:600gm glutinous rice (soaked overnight, or at least 3 hours, and then drained)100ml thick coconut milk500ml water( or more)3 blades pandan leaves, torn2 tsp saltPlaced drained rice into a baking pan and put in water, salt and coconut milk. Make sure the liquid is fully covering the rice.Steam on high heat for half and hour or until rice turns translucent and cooked. Keep rice warm.

Banana Leaves:Wash leaves and cut into preferred sizes. Bring a pot of water to a boil and put in few drops of oil. Blanch leaves until they are pliable.

Assembly----My Way:

1. Line baking pan with baking paper overlapping on the sides.

2. Place half the warm rice into the lined baking pan and level rice with a fork.3. Place half the filling onto leveled rice, and level the filling.4. Spoon the other half of rice evenly over filling.

5. Press rice to firmly pack it up.6. Leave to cool down.

7. When rice has cooled down, overturn it onto a cutting board, and slice it into preferred sizes.

8. Wrap each piece of rice with a piece of blanched banana leaf, sealing up the sides with staples or toothpicks.

Friday, July 10, 2009

I first made baked tapioca/cassava cake way back during uni days, and I’ve forgotten that I did, until recently Kin Thong’s mom reminded me of how good my tapioca cake was. I was surprised, did I make that before???

I tried to think back, yeah, I did make tapioca cake before. A few times in fact! Many, many years back.My mom loved it so much and she asked me to make her one to bring to a church outing, and she got her friends to like it as well, and that included Kin Thong’s mom. It just feels funny when things that I made, I’ve forgotten about it, while others were still reminiscing about it.

Where did I learn to make this? My uni friend, Saik Yann’s dad, Mr Cheng. Actually I never tasted her dad’s tapioca cake, but another uni friend of mine did, Yen Cher. She told me how good Mr Cheng’s tapioca cake was. So, I called Saik Yann up and asked her how to do it. There were no exact measurements (her dad made it by feel), but she could only tell me the type of ingredients in it, So, I had to experiment. And it came out well.

My MIL bought 1.2kg of yellow cassava, and asked me what can I do with this. I suddenly thought of the tapioca cake I used to make. I checked out Rohani Jelani’s kuih recipe book, and checked the amount of liquid, and adapted it to Mr Cheng’s tapioca cake composition. Actually his had cheddar cheese topping, I omitted it this time. Feel free to add it if u want.

1.Peel and grate cassava. Leave at room temperature. I used yellow cassava. If u’re using yellow ones, ignore the further instructions in (1). If using white cassava, which could be slightly bitter, press out juices into a container and let the juice sit until the starch settles on the bottom. Pour the juice into a measuring cup to separate the water from the starch. Measure the cassava water and discard. Substitute the discarded amount with clean water. Combine the clean water, starch and grated cassava. Add some yellow colouring if desired.2.Combine coconut milk with eggs.3.Boil water and sugar. Melt in butter. Pour this hot solution over (1) and stir to combine. It should thicken slightly.4.Pour (2) into (3). Stir.5.Pour batter into a lined 7 inch square baking pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 170/180C for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Friday, July 3, 2009

This recipe make kuih talam the way some prefers it, but not my brothers!They said, it’s no good! They were comparing it with the kuih seller in Kampar that makes the kuih talam slightly elastic. I suspect the kuih seller uses sago flour instead of tapioca starch to give it that twang! Plus the kuih seller puts coconut milk in all the layers.

Still this recipe is alright, it’s the texture that is common with Malay kuih makers and some Chinese kuih makers too.

Combine all (A) ingredients and cook over low heat, stirring slowly all the time until it thickens slightly. Pour into a 8 inch round pan or 7 inch square pan. Steam batter for 20 minutes. Batter is cooked when firm to the touch.

Combine all (B) ingredients and cook over low heat, stirring slowly all the time until it thickens slightly. Pour (B) batter over cooked (A) and steam on medium heat for 15 minutes.Cool thoroughly at room temperature before cutting.

Chilling in fridge may cause the upper layer to be harder due to the high concentration of coconut milk(fat content high).